1965 — A Pretoria umpire walks off court mid-match to protest the constant complaints by one of the players during a semifinal. American Donald Dell was playing against Australian-turned-South African Bob Hewitt — and it wasn’t the normally fiery-tempered Hewitt doing the moaning. Dell had repeatedly complained about line calls and then complained further when the line judges walked off the court. That’s when umpire Ian Cunningham decided he’d had enough too. “Well, it’s all yours, boys,” he said as he threw down the score sheet, put on his coat and walked into the stands. An office-bearer from the SA Lawn Tennis Union took over as umpire. Dell surprised Hewitt to win 7-9, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3. In 2015 — half a century later — Hewitt would be convicted of rape and sexual assault against girls he coached in the 1980s and 1990s.
1983 — Brian Baronet, one of the tragic characters of South African boxing, beats journeyman Bramley Whiteboy on an eighth-round technical knockout at the Ellis Park tennis stadium to stretch his unbeaten record to 17. But he would suffer his first defeat in his very next fight, against Lorenzo Luis Garcia of Argentina in Durban the following month. Baronet died after being knocked out by American Kenny Vice in 1988.
1984 — The all-South African racing team of Sarel van der Merwe, Tony Martin and Graham Duxbury win the Daytona 24-hour Classic in their Kreepy Krauly March 83G. The South African debutants led for two-thirds of the race but had testing moments along the way, like when the car ran out of petrol 800m from the pits after six-and-a-half hours. ‘Supervan’ had to run to the car with enough petrol to get it back, and the delay cost them eight laps. They finished nine laps ahead of the defending champions in a Porsche 935, which included 1983 world endurance drivers championship runner-up Derek Bell of Britain.
1999 — The South African one-day cricket team defeats the West Indies by a massive 114 runs in Bloemfontein in the sixth contest of their series. Captain Hansie Cronje top-scored with 82 runs from 79 balls. Shaun Pollock took three wickets while Victor Mpitsang, Jacques Kallis and Lance Klusener took two apiece. At the time that was SA’s biggest winning margin in terms of runs over the West Indies and put the hosts 5-1 ahead in the series.
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